Dawn says,


> .  I've been reading the posts and started thinking that as little
> as 75 or 100 years ago folks would have thought these books rubbish (well,
> some of us do now too).  A new mom would be in close proximity to other
> female relatives (I keep thinking of a no-nonsence grandmother) who would
> help with the housekeeping, but also with learning new baby care (like how
> often to feed the baby).
OK -- IDOT stands for the Illinois Dept of Transportation -- I ALWAYS see
IDIOT when I see it....and when it comes to trying to schedule babies,
well...

Anyway, Dawn, I did have to comment on this.  While I'm not 75 -- not yet,
anyway, I was on a very strict schedule as a baby -- feeding every four
hours, one breast per feeding.  (That lasted a whole 2 weeks, and then
formula and cereal stuffed in got me on track with the schedule).  That
schedule came from the generation before my mother -- my grandmother who had
all of HER children on a schedule in the early 1900s.  And if you read back
in history, you will see that one of the first proponents of true scheduling
for babies was Truby King (who coined the term "Breast is Best" in 1915), but
who, in the late 1800s recommended that no baby should ever be fed at night
from birth on, and never more than 5 times a day.  I'm sure our Great Britian
and NZ Lactnetters can tell you more about Truby King and Plunkett nurses
than we ever wanted to know.

But the problem is, we are reaping the "benefit" of Truby King, John Watson,
Emmett Holt, BF Skinner, and others who believed that children should be
scheduled, should be seen and not heard, and should not in any way change the
life of the parent -- particularly the upper crust parent who could afford to
read their nonsense.

Gary Ezzo is merely regurgitating what has gone on before -- he's more
dangerous because he wrapped it in religious packaging and made it very
attractive by setting attachment parenting and demand feedings up as an
anathema to be avoided at all costs.  His claims that attachment parenting
and demand feeding increased rates of colic, juvenile delinquency,
selfishness, PPD, low weight gain, marital discord, low breastfeeding rates,
etc etc etc served the purpose to terrify parents of going off the schedule.
If they did, their child would grow up to be a monster, pushing other
children off swings, and running amok in the K-Mart, kicking strangers in the
shins.  Not to mention, of course, raising children any way but Gary's way
was to not raise your children God's way.

His garbage is old, old garbage.  In fact, he got a lot of his info from "My
First 300 Babies" by (I think) Gladys Hendricks (not sure -- it's here
somewhere, but I can't find it right now).  Now THAT book, will make your
hair curl (or fall out, as the case may be).

It's appealing because parents want to have (and think they can) total
control over their children.  They are afraid of being manipulated -- they
don't know how to raise children -- this may be what Grandma is recommending
who may have breastfed, but on a schedule with plenty of pablum to supplement
the breastmilk so babies wouldn't cry too much, or too long.  How many
grandmothers who are in their 60s or 70s recommend to new moms to let the
baby cry it out -- put the baby on a schedule --

Yup.  Old stuff.  Not healthy, and certainly not "evidence based."

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC -- Wheaton IL -- who was "Ezzoed" before Ezzo was
born.
Lactation Education Consultants
www.lactationeducationconsultants.com

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